Salted Caramel Fudge

I can't believe it's already been one month since I first participated in the Crazy Cooking Challenge hosted by Mom's Crazy Cooking. Last month I shared Mashed Potato Cakes as part of the mashed potato theme last month. This month, in theme for holiday parties and such, is fudge.

Are you ready for this? I wasn't. You see, I have never made fudge before. In fact, for all the baking I love to do, every time (and I can count all on one hand) I dabble in the candy-esque side of baking/cooking, it doesn't turn out so pretty. (See: my first attempt at cake pops.) Candy thermometers, simmering, thickening, dipping, rolling, and prettying any sort of treat (except cupcakes) tends to frustrate me. To top it off, I am not a huge fan of these type of treats, with the exception of Michelle's toffee. I've messed that up too and it's simple. I'm such a cupcake and cookie girl. Yes, I don't really like fudge.

Whew. Now, that that is all out of the way, I still really wanted to participate so I searched for a recipe that 1) didn't require a candy thermometer and 2) I might potentially like. It is safe to say, I'll eat/drink anything salted caramel related. That eventually landed me at this recipe posted by Zoe at Bake for Happy Kids. You can only imagine how thrilled I was to find that it [almost] turned out perfectly and was so easy.

She lives in Australia so her recipe was all metric. I've converted it below.

Salted Caramel Fudge
Adapted from Super Food Ideas, Dec 2010 issue via Bake for Happy Kids

1 (14oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup*
2 Tablespoons glucose syrup (from my research glucose syrup is corn syrup)
1 stick + 1 Tablespoon butter, chopped
6.35 ounces (180g) white chocolate, flaked/grated
1 tsp sea salt

* I did not have golden syrup and learned that it really isn't sold in the U.S. except at select stores and Whole Foods or World Market, neither of which are close to me. Next time, I will hunt down some golden syrup to see if it makes a difference, but this time, I just substituted corn syrup for golden syrup.

In a saucepan, on low heat, add condensed milk, sugar, syrup(s) and butter. Cook for 10 minutes without bringing to a boil, stirring until mixture is glossy and sugar has dissolved.

Turn heat up to medium-low, bringing mixture to a simmer while stirring constantly for 6-8 minutes or until mixture thickens. At this point, it should come away from the side of the pan as seen below.

Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until completely melted and combined. Here is my tip: do not use white chocolate chips as you see below. Use white chocolate brick and grate it with a cheese grater because the chips took forever to melt. Forever = 20+ minutes. No joke. Stirring and stirring. In fact, I was so sick of stirring, there are a few little pieces of white chocolate in the fudge.

Pour into 8x8 inch pan. Zoe suggested lining the pan with parchment paper, but I didn't have any.

Sprinkle with sea salt. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool. Then, cover and refrigerate for 6 hours, or until firm. Enjoy!

So, not to my surprise, mine never completely got to the right consistency of fudge, but it is still yummy. It may look a little caramel-esque, but its texture is actually fudge-like. I obviously still need practice cooking fudge. You should go check out Zoe's gorgeous pictures because I love the way she photographed/wrapped the fudge.

Maybe I'll find some tips and tricks to fudge making in the links below. Make sure you go check some out too. Oh, and vote for my link listed below #59! I would LOVE it. Just click "Like."


This post is linked up to some of the parties listed under my Show & Tell tab at the top of the page. Go check them out for more inspiration!